Welcome to the For King and Empire web site, a site devoted to Canadian soldiers' experiences during the Great War. We endeavour to show what war was like for these soldiers, who fought in some of the worst conditions imaginable. In the Battlefields section we recreate a day-by-day account of two of the most significant battles - Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele. This section also guides the visitor through the artillery, the trench terms and expressions, and the significant people and places associated with these battles.

In other sections of the site you will have the opportunity to hear WWI songs, or send a postcard featuring some of Canada's most renowned war art. Students will find the Resource Centre of particular interest: we have gathered and categorized many books and web site links that deal with the war. In the Archive section we invite the public to send in their stories of a relative who fought in the Great War so that we can build an archive of these remembrances. Finally, collectors of militaria will find the Collectors' Forum, home to the exchange of information and goods pertaining to their hobby, a welcome place.

This web site is part of a project that includes a six-part television documentary series that originally aired on History Television.

The documentary series For King and Empire follows in the footsteps of the Canadian Expeditionary Force of 1914. Filmed in France and Belgium, it follows military historian Norm Christie as he retraces the journeys of the Canadian troops through Europe, beginning with their first battle at Ypres to the battlefield in the Somme, to Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele, and ending with the battles of the last 100 days of the war, in which they win a series of brilliant victories. With the addition of supplementary material from books, photography, war film footage, letters and diaries, many never before exploited, the series looks at the significance, strategies and risks of each combat, mainly through the eyes of the soldiers, who were to find their initial idealism dashed by the horrors of trench warfare. To learn more about the documentary series, please click here. To order VHS tapes of the series click here.

The series is produced by one of Canada's most prolific and successful production companies Breakthrough Films and Television. Breakthrough is also the producer of Little Miracles, What's for Dinner? and The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon, to name a few of its successful programs.

The web site and the television documentary series are inspired by the critically acclaimed books by Norm Christie entitled For King and Empire.Norm Christie has studied the Great War for twenty years. A graduate of Queen's University, he directed his passion by joining the Commonwealth War Graves Commission were he worked for five years as records officer in England and later in France. Much of the material in this site comes from his books and his vast knowledge of the First World War.

Funding for the For King and Empire project has been generously provided by the Bell New Media and Broadcast Fund and the Millennium Fund.